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Continental Drift

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Definition Continental Shift is the theory of Earths movement

and shift, that takes place between the Continents onEarth in relation to each other.

This theory is closely related to the theory of Platetectonic.

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Pioneer In 1596 a map maker Abraham Ortelius came up with

the Theory of Continental shift, because of the shapesof the continents and how they looked that they mayhave fit together at one point of time. Especially thecontinent of Africa and South America.

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20th

Century In 1912 the theory of Continental Shift was completed

by German Meteorologist Alfred Wegener.

Wegener provided evidence that was reasonable andthat made sense but couldn't explain the mechanismor processes behind the movement of continents(Wikipedia).

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Rejected Theory In the early 1900s the Continental Drift theory was

rejected by many scientist at the time.

Because Wegener and fellow scientist that supportedhim and the theory could not explain the couldn'texplain the mechanism or processes behind themovement of continents, it was rejected by many.

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Arthur Holmes By 1929 the theory of Continental drift was not taken

serious and Scientist Arthur Holmes came up with ahypothesis to help explain Wegeners theory.

Holmes stated that suggested that this thermalconvection was like a conveyor belt and that the

upwelling pressure could break apart a continent andthen force the broken continent in opposite directionscarried by the convection currents. This idea receivedvery little attention at the time(earthscience.org).

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Plate Tectonics In the early 1960s when the tectonic plates of the

Earth were proven and accepted by the sciencecommunity. The Theory of Continental Drift was then

accepted by the scientific community. Do to the discovery of the Tectonic plates is validity the

Theory of Continental Shift because it proved that theEarths Continents to move and that with all the other

evidence of plants and animals being on the Coast ofcontinents believed to have been connected at once itmade it beyond reasonable plausible for the theory tobe factual.

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Historical Events Continued Also around 1915 they found and animal named Mesosaurus. It was

found in South America and Africa further justifying Wegener theoryof one continent. They also found other fossil from other animals thatlived on the coasts of the continents that were assumed to haveconnected at some time in the past.

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Historical Events Just this past year Japan experienced a 8.9 Earthquake and Tsunami.

This was caused by plate tectonic. This Earthquake shifted EasternJapan towards North America by about 13 feet(Goodwin,2011)

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Scientific Significance Down the road, data from the quake will provide an

unusually precise view of how Earth is deformedduring massive earthquakes at sites where one plate issliding under another, including the U.S. PacificNorthwest, scientists said(Brown, 2011)

Also due to the size and the fact the this shifted Japancloser to the US, as well as shifted the Earths Axis, itwill help scientist to further be prepared for thecatastrophic earthquake expected to hit the West

Coast of the US anytime now.

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2011 Earthquake in Context 2011 Earthquake that hit Japan is one of the worst earthquakes

to hit that region in over 50 years. This is one of the worstnatural disasters to hit Japan. Also killing many people and

destroying many buildings in that region because they werenot prepared for a sudden earthquake of that magnitude.

Due to much media coverage the world was able to getinformation quickly to alert people around the world that may

have been affected, such as the tsunami warning for Hawaiiand the West Coast of the United States of America. Peoplewere able to evacuate those regions because they had amplewarning due to the coverage going on in Japan and thedisastrous effects going on there.

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References Continental drift - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (n.d.). Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Retrieved October 3, 2011, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continental_drift The Dynamic Earth @ National Museum of Natural History. (n.d.). Smithsonian Institution National

Museum of Natural History NMNH. Retrieved October 3, 2011, fromhttp://www.mnh.si.edu/earth/text/4_1_2_3.html

Why was the continental drift theory or hypothesis rejected at the time that Alfred Wegener proposed

it. (n.d.). The Q&A wiki. Retrieved October 3, 2011, fromhttp://wiki.answers.com/Q/Why_was_the_continental_drift_theory_or_hypothesis_rejected_at_the_time_that_Alfred_Wegener_proposed_it#ixzz1ZjqiAwed

plate tectonics. (n.d.). Earth Science Australia. Retrieved October 3, 2011, fromhttp://earthsci.org/education/teacher/basicgeol/platec/platec.html

plate tectonics: history of an idea.. (n.d.). UCMP - University of California Museum of Paleontology.Retrieved October 3, 2011, from http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/geology/techist.html

Goodwin, L. (2011, March 14). Japans earthquake shifted balance of the planet | The Lookout - Yahoo!News. Yahoo! News - Latest News & Headlines. Retrieved October 5, 2011, fromhttp://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/japan-earthquake-shifted-balance-planet-20110314-065608-417.html

Brown, E., & Times, L. A. (2011, March 13). Japan earthquake science: Japan earthquake shifted Earthon its axis - Los Angeles Times. Featured Articles From The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved October 5,2011, from http://articles.latimes.com/2011/mar/13/science/la-sci-japan-quake-science-20110313